THE Supreme Court (SC) on Tuesday stopped the Commission on Elections (Comelec) from dropping four party-list groups and disqualifying them from joining the elections next year.
During the en banc deliberations, the magistrates issued a status quo ante order against the Comelec, granting the petition of party-list groups Ako Bicol, The Association of Philippine Electric Cooperatives (APEC), 1-CARE and Alliance on Rural Concerns to stop the poll body from implementing its ruling to remove their accreditation as party-lists.
The High Court decided to consolidate the cases and issue a status quo ante order to prevent the Comelec from delisting the party-list groups, which have been granted accreditation in 2010. The tribunal also took into consideration the time needed by the poll body to print ballots for the mid-term elections in 2013.
In the meantime, the 15-man tribunal ordered the Comelec to submit its explanation or comment to the petitions filed by the four groups.
The SC is expected to rule on the merits of the case before February 12, the start of the campaign period for party-list groups.
AKO Bicol urged the High Court to nullify the Comelec’s decision prohibiting the group from joining the upcoming election. The group said that the poll body “acted without and in excess of its jurisdiction” when it issued the questioned resolutions on August 2 and on October 10, and that the Comelec has no power to determine the qualifications of party-list representatives since only Congress can do that.
1-CARE on its part argued that the Comelec should give credence to their recognition by the Supreme Court as a party-list. The group won two seats in Congress in 2010 and was represented by Michael Angelo Rivera and Salvador Cabaluna 3rd at the House of Representatives.
On the other hand, the Alliance of Rural Concerns, which authored 630 bills, the highest in the 14th Congress, was represented at the House in the previous Congress by Narciso Santiago 3rd, son of Sen. Miriam Defensor-Santiago.
APEC challenged the Comelec’s ruling, saying that it violated their rights to due process.
APEC claimed that the poll body failed to apply due process.
The Comelec has come under attack for either kicking out dozens of party-list groups or denying accreditation to new organizations.
On Monday, the Integrated Bar of the Philippines said that the purging of party-list groups is arbitrary.
dean Edna Co of the University of the Philippines’ National College of Public Administration and Governance said that the review of party-list groups’ qualifications is chaotic, since the Comelec has no clear mechanism to determine which groups can be covered by the party-list system.
Comelec Chairman Sixto Brillantes Jr. shrugged off the criticisms, saying that these were “delayed” opinions of some groups.
Brillantes said that the poll body will respect the Supreme Court decision. “We will follow it of course. There is no problem with that,” he told reporters when informed of the high tribunal’s ruling.
“I think there is no urgency in stopping us since we have yet to begin the configuration and printing of official ballots. So if they decide immediately on the cases, we can still include their names in the official list if we are ordered by the court,” Brillantes said.
However, the Comelec head said that the SC order will not stop them from continuing with their review of the status of party-list groups and disqualifying them if warranted.
He said that the commission en banc will release a new list of disqualified groups today.
“We will come out with around 15. I will have to double-check the number. We will come out with resolutions on the Motions for Reconsideration, meaning, they are the new applicants since they came from the Division-level,” Brillantes said. –Jomar Canlas Senior Reporter, Manila Times
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